Pablo Picasso (First Impressions) - Hardcover

Grade 8 Up-- While there are no fresh insights to be found here, there is a story told in a clear narrative, and it's easy to become caught up in the flow of words and pictures. As readers follow Picasso's many moves as he seeks institutions in which to study and then places to work out his evolving aesthetic vision, they also follow the art movements that influenced him and those that he helped generate. Although the focus of the narrative is on the objects Picasso created, they are presented in the setting of his personal life: the people he befriended and worked with, the women who were his ``companions.'' Indeed, the pages are crowded with names of the painters and poets and patrons who form the pantheon of pre-World War II modern art. Picasso's evolution as an artist is readily understood as readers come to comprehend the potency of his creative energies. The clarity of the exposition is greatly enhanced by numbers of reproductions integrated with the text. Either as full-page (even foldouts) color plates or as vignettes, they give texture to the telling, fleshing out the occasional analyses. Brilliantly colored renderings convey the nuances as well as much of the original intensity of pigments. Although there is a passing reference to Picasso's strong sexual energies, none of the many visual expressions of this aspect of his life are included. These omissions may comfort some readers, but they tend to discolor an otherwise clearly rendered biography. --Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In the ``First Impressions'' series, an intelligent overview of the 20th-century giant's life as it relates to the evolution of his many innovative styles. Beardsley explains what was unique about Picasso's art at each stage, setting him in the context of other artists, such major political events as the Spanish Civil War, and the sources of his powerful images, especially the bulls and matadors of his native Spain. The beautifully reproduced art (50 or so items, mostly--except the sculpture--in color, including several foldouts) is well chosen to illustrate the author's presentation; a series of early self-portraits (1896- 1907) in characteristic, rapidly evolving, sharply contrasting but fascinatingly related styles is especially illuminating. Illustrations are not always adjacent to the relevant text, a problem that could have been alleviated by citing their location at the appropriate point--especially since Beardsley mentions several important works that, frustratingly, don't appear at all. Still, as intended, a good introduction to the man and his extraordinary output. Full citations for the art; index. (Biography. 11+) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.